The present invention generally relates to a stabilizer system. More particularly, the invention relates to a hydraulically-actuated stabilizing system which may be carried on a vehicle without increasing the amount of clearance space required to operate the vehicle. Advantageously, a vehicle equipped with the new stabilizer system may function stably in terrain having highly hetereogeneous and non-supportive soil conditions and limited space.
Utility vehicles, such as wheeled or tracked tractors, earth movers, skid steers, back hoes, and mechanical diggers utilize a variety of tools such as buckets, shovels, and trenchers to perform a variety of tasks at a work site such as shoveling, pushing, trenching, pounding, dumping, breaking, tunneling, and lifting. Under ideal site conditions, these vehicles generally accomplish these tasks with efficiency. However, not all work sites present ideal working conditions. Utility vehicles often must be taken "off-the-road" and maneuvered through and into terrain offering limited sidewall and undercarriage clearance space. The work site itself may present additional factors which would limit the ability of the vehicle to accomplish the given task effectively. Such additional factors include uneven topography and highly hetereogeneous ground conditions including unexpectedly wet or unconsolidated non-supportive surface soils. Under such conditions, the utility vehicle may not be operated stably and, accordingly, to the vehicle's maximum efficiency.
In order to maintain the efficiency at which an utility vehicle may operate at a work site, an apparatus is required which can provide added support for and stabilize the vehicle even under highly varying localized conditions. Yet, the apparatus cannot encumber the vehicle with added weight and clearance problems.
Various mechanisms to support and stabilize utility vehicles are conventionally known. For example, some of such mechanisms consist of arms carried horizontally outward from one or both of the longitudinal or lateral vertical walls of the vehicle. To operate these out-rigger-like stabilizers, their arms must be extended further horizontally outward and vertically downward. Other stabilizing mechanisms include those that are fixed to the undercarriage of the vehicle. These, and other such mechanisms may be manually operated. Those which are hydraulically operable, however, may not include support elements which can be individually actuated.
Conventional stabilizers suffer from a variety of disadvantages. To understand certain of the disadvantages associated with conventional stabilizers, the dimensional profile and undercarriage clearance space of the vehicle must be defined. The dimensional profile of the vehicle is defined as that space around the vehicle which is no farther from the vehicle than the farthest point of the vehicle. To illustrate, the outer limits of the longitudinal portion of the dimensional profile of a wheeled tractor--having wheels, a front hydraulic bucket, and a rear mounted engine--would be defined by the outer portions of the wheels of the vehicle because these portions are generally the farthest points away from the main body of such a vehicle. In this example, the outer limits of the longitudinal portions of the dimensional profile of this vehicle may be defined to be vertical planes which run parallel to, and through the outer portions of the wheels of the vehicle. The front lateral portion of the dimensional profile of the same vehicle would be defined as that space inward from the farthest point of the vehicle extending laterally from the front of the vehicle body. In this example, since this farthest point is the outer portion of the vehicle's front bucket, the front portion of the dimensional profile may be defined to comprise a vertical plane which runs parallel to, and through this point. Similarly, the outer limits of the rear lateral portion of the dimensional profile of the vehicle would be defined, for example, by the rear engine cover of the tractor. From this, it will be appreciated that the dimensional profile of such a vehicle typically is generally rectangular. The undercarriage clearance space is simply that space between the bottom wall of the vehicle, the surface of the ground, and the inner portion, for example, of the wheels of a wheeled tractor.
One of the serious disadvantages of conventional stabilizers and associated with the dimensional profile of the vehicle is that certain known stabilizers function by projecting beyond the profile of the vehicle as unequipped. To illustrate, outrigger-like stabilizers can function only by extending in a horizontal direction outwardly from the walls of the vehicle and beyond the outer portion of the wheels of the vehicle; that is, beyond the dimensional profile of the vehicle. However, the extra space needed to allow such stabilizers to extend outwardly is often limited or non-existent at a work site. This extra space requirement of known stabilizers prevents conventional stabilizers and, thereby, the equipped utility vehicle from being used in areas providing little sidewall clearance.
Other stabilizers, while they may not project beyond the dimensional profile of the vehicle, still may prevent the vehicle from being operated at its optimum effectiveness and efficiency. Such stabilizers are carried vertically beneath the utility vehicle so that they project wholly or in large part, and even when non-operational, into the undercarriage clearance space of the vehicle. Accordingly, a vehicle equipped with these stabilizers has a reduced amount of undercarriage clearance space above the surface of the ground. While the vehicle is being maneuvered into and around a terrain having dense vegetation or highly varied surface conditions, such as one strewn with glacial erratics, the stabilizers may be damaged or completely torn out from under the vehicle's body.
Conventional stabilizer systems suffer from many other more specific disadvantages. For example, most conventional stabilizers are prohibitively heavy, thereby increasing the likelihood that a vehicle equipped with such stabilizers would sink when maneuvered through or operated on non-supportive wet or unconsolidated surface soils. Also, while many conventional stabilizers are permanently affixed to the vehicle, others can be removed only with a great deal of work and by the use of tools that may not be readily available in the field. The efficiency of some stabilizers is also reduced by the fact that they are exclusively actuated by hand and require the vehicle's operator, or a person already outside the cab to engage the mechanism. Other stabilizers that are hydraulically-actuated have, for example, support elements such as legs which cannot be individually controlled. As a result, both legs of the stabilizer system must be actuated even though the stabilizing effect of both legs is not needed. This over-responsiveness to what may be a very localized condition may lead, in fact, to the destabilization of the vehicle. Finally, some stabilizers are designed so that they can only fit outward from the cover to the vehicle's engine. Such stabilizers block access to the engine and require them to be dismantled partially or wholly in order to perform regular maintenance of the vehicle's engine. The amount of cooling air flowing to the engine is also greatly reduced by such placement. Overall, conventional stabilizers decrease the efficiency of, and generally place added weight and/or space limitations on an utility vehicle.
The present invention solves the many problems associated with conventional stabilizers. A vehicle equipped with this new stabilizer system requires no more sidewall or undercarriage clearance space when maneuvering than a vehicle without the stabilizer. Yet, the vehicle is far more useful. A vehicle equipped with this system is able to work in environments inimical to unequipped vehicles.
The present invention provides a stabilizing system that, when retracted, does not add to the amount of horizontal or vertical clearance space required by a vehicle equipped with the system. The present invention includes at least one hydraulically-operated stabilizer unit. In one embodiment, a set of stabilizer units are carried vertically on, and in close conformity to the longitudinal side walls of the utility vehicle. The stabilizer units include legs that, when the system is not in use, may be retracted to a retracted non-ground engaging position and into protective sleeves thereby allowing a vehicle equipped with the system to be maneuvered into and around a work site without the danger that the system may be damaged or torn from the vehicle. When it is necessary to stabilize the vehicle, an operator from within the cab of the vehicle may actuate the system's hydraulic means to lower individually the legs of the system's stabilizer units to an extended ground engaging position. In this position, pads affixed to the ends of the legs rest securely on the ground. Because the stabilizer units may be individually actuated and from within the cab of the vehicle, a vehicle equipped with the present invention may be quickly stabilized in response to very localized soil conditions and topography and without the need for exterior hand labor. Even when fully operational and in the extended position, however, the stabilizer units of the present system do not project beyond the dimensional profile of the vehicle. Accordingly, even when the present system is fully operational, a vehicle equipped with it may be operated in areas offering limited clearance space.
Further advantages of the present invention include the reinforcing elements of the system which prevent deflection, swaying, or other unwanted movement of the system's stabilizer unit. The reinforcing elements, as are the other elements of the present invention, are of relatively light weight construction so that the maneuverability and efficiency of a vehicle equipped with the present invention is not comprised. Furthermore, the present invention includes attachment means which allow the system to be attached or removed from a vehicle quickly and with tools readily available in the field.
An object of the present invention is to provide an unique stabilizer system for a utility vehicle, thereby increasing the vehicle's versatility.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a stabilizer system which includes at least one stabilizer unit that may be individually actuated.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle stabilizer system which may be easily attached and removed from a vehicle.
A further object of the invention is to provide a vehicle stabilizer system which may be rigidly secured to a utility vehicle, and reinforced so that the system may withstand the stresses placed on it during operation.
Also, an object of the present invention is to provide a stabilizing system for a utility vehicle which is light in weight so that the maneuverability and efficiency of a vehicle equipped with the system is not comprised.